by Matt Krantz, USA TODAY

by Matt Krantz, USA TODAY

More than half the stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 have blasted past analysts' price targets or are rapidly on their way, another sign of how the stock market's rally is defying investors' expectations.

Stocks such as online video service Netflix, solar equipment seller First Solar and Chipotle Mexican Grill are already trading above analysts' average 12-month price targets, according to USA TODAY research of data from S&P Capital IQ. More stocks, such as social network Facebook, media firm Walt Disney and game maker Electronic Arts, are 5% or less away from topping analysts' price targets.

You can divide the race to the top in three categories:

â?¢ Overachievers: There are 93 S&P 500 stocks trading at or above their analysts' price targets. Many of these are stocks that investors have been piling into. Online travel agent TripAdvisor and Netflix are trading for $107.54 and $439.95 respectively, easily topping their $91 and $374 price targets. In the case of Netflix, analysts are being overly cautious because they're not factoring in the possibility the company could boost profit by raising fees, says Tony Wible, analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott.

â?¢ Closing in: The S&P 500 has another 174 companies that haven't yet hit price targets, but are 5% or less away. Shares of Disney, riding on the huge success of its parks, are trading for $81.97, just shy of the $82.21 share price target. Another example, Biogen Idec, one of the leaders of the biotech boom, is trading for $338.00, just below the $340.60 price target.

â?¢ Far behind: With so many stocks surpassing targets, the ones that are trailing and have more relative upside are more glaring. There are just 11 stocks that are 20% or more away from their price targets, including Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Best Buy and General Motors.

Stocks are seeing such a massive rise that even analysts' infamously bullish views of what companies will be worth 12 months from now are proving to be overly conservative. "There's too much optimism in the market. The fact that current stock prices are ahead of price targets is perhaps one symbol of that," says Sheraz Mian of Zacks Investment Research.

Investors shouldn't assume, though, that the entire market is overvalued because some stocks are surpassing analysts' estimates, says Doug Sandler of RiverFront Investment Group. Many of the stocks trumping targets are among the pockets of overvaluation, such as social media. Twitter isn't in the S&P 500, but at Monday's close of $53.88, it's already above the $50.51 average price target. "There's always a group that's hyped up," Sandler says.

But others say investors should be paying attention when stocks are soaring so much that even analysts can't make their price targets high enough. "Analysts have literally been trying to catch up with how the market has been dealing with stocks," Mian says.